Titanfall To Have 6v6 Multiplayer Limit & Gamers Kick Up Inevitable Fuss
Following a tweet response from Vince Zampella, the Co-Founder at Respawn Entertainment there was somewhat of a Twitter backlash when one follower asked Vince to reveal online player count for Titanfall. To which Vince simply responded “6v6 is max player count. Turned out to be the best balance with A.I for us.”
As with what often happens on the internet, a game can get slated before the game is even played and that has certainly happened here in respected to the lower than expected online multiplayer count. There are simply too many negative comments to fill into one article, but you can click on the tweet to see the comment thread for yourself. Below is the original tweet that started the heated discussion:
@MrClutch514 @Respawn 6v6 is max player count. Turned out to be the best balance with ai for us.
— Vince Zampella (@VinceZampella) January 8, 2014
Below are some of the Twitter responses made by Vince Zampella when defending the 6v6 multiplayer:
One gamer very negatively said that (excuse the bad spelling) “No single plyr No co-op 6v6 multiplr Running on 10 year old source engine, bots 4 ez kills. But teh balensez, right? Lmfao” To which Vince simply responded “sounds like it isn’t the game for you, sorry to hear that.”
Don’t get me wrong, I am taken back a little by the fact that it will only support 6v6 and not at least 12v12, but that doesn’t mean the quality will be any less. I would find it even more puzzling if the developers had made a decision that would mean less enjoyment for the gamer, I have no doubts that this decision was made for the benefit of the game. One very famous quote comes to mind that will hopefully sum up this situation as a whole “Quantity over Quality.“
The matter then made its way on to NeoGAF when producer at Respawn Entertainment; Drew McCoy made various comments informing gamers that various player counts were tested and to basically ask them reserve judgement until the game is played. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it is a fair request to wait until Titanfall is played in which the gamer may or may not be proven right.
Here’s what Drew McCoy had to say on NeoGAF:
Vince is right – we tried a huge amount of player counts (all the way down to 1v1 and up quite high) and designed the maps, gameplay mechanics, and entire experience around which played best. If anyone wants to chase the numbers game, perhaps we’re not the experience they’re after? I dunno.
And FYI, for amount of stuff happening at once in a map you’ll be hard pressed to find a game that keeps the action higher. I literally have to stop playing every few rounds because my heart just can’t take it sometimes. Remember, you can get out of your Titan and let it roam on AI mode – meaning there can be 12 Pilots wall running around, 12 Titans stomping below, and dozens of AI doing their thing.
Oh, and I keep seeing people thinking we’ve got “bots” when we talk about AI. That’s not how they are. The AI in Titanfall are not replacements for human players. Our player count is not 6v6 because of AI – AI play their own role in the game and are a different class of character in the game.
Can’t wait! Only a couple months until speculative threads like this are gone and people are actually talking about their experiences with the game. It’s truly fun stuff, and I hope everyone at least gives it a try.
In related news, it was revealed a little earlier in the week on the Respawn Entertainment forum that Titanfall will have various control layouts to accommodate gamers that are use to the likes of Halo, Call of Duty, as well as Titanfalls own default layout.
Titanfall will release for the PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on March 11th in North America and then the 13th across Europe.